Sliding for the fifth straight day, the BSE Sensex today wiped out initial gains to end 94 points down at its lowest levels in three weeks on a bout of late selling in bluechips including Infosys, RIL and Tata Steel.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share gauge after opening on a better note, rose to touch a high of 20,890.48 points.

However, emergence of profit-taking shaved off gains and the index closed at 20,693.24 points, logging a fall of 94.06 points, or 0.45 per cent. This is its lowest closing since 20,612.14 on December 17, 2013.

Infosys (1.62 per cent), RIL (1.49 per cent) and TCS (1.4 per cent) contributed most to the decline in Sensex. Tata Steel, Tata Power and Hindalco led the 18 index stocks lower.

On the similar lines, the 50-share NSE index Nifty also moved down by 29.20 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 6,162.25, after touching the day's high of 6,221.50. Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed 52.78 points down at 12,338.18.

Brokers said trading sentiment remained subdued for the major part of the session as cautious participants indulged in trimming their positions ahead of quarterly earnings season, beginning later this week.

"Stock specific action will be guided by upcoming quarterly result expectation and actual results," said Milan Bavishi, Head Research, Inventure Growth and Securities.

Mixed global cues also affected domestic sentiment.

Among sectoral indices, the BSE Metal sector suffered the most by losing 1.68 per cent, followed by Realty index (1.65 per cent), Oil & Gas index (1.37 per cent) and IT index (1.29 per cent).

(Reuters) Indian shares fell for a fifth consecutive session on Tuesday to mark their weakest start to a year since 2011, as technology stocks, including Infosys Ltd, dropped on caution ahead of the software exporter's quarterly results on Friday.

Concerns that foreign investors are becoming more selective are also weighing on sentiment, after their $20 billion worth of net purchases